370 History of the English Landed Interest. 



suddenly enforcing them all, to get rid of an obnoxious tenant 

 at any time, thus virtually transforming what was legally a 

 lease for years into a tenancy at will.^ 



Then, too, the periodical payment of a large sum to the 

 landlord by its very name of fine recalls a feudal incident, 

 irksome enough when applied to the proprietorship of land, 

 but doubly so when associated (like the heriot) with its occu- 

 pation and agriculture. To compel a man to pursue a course 

 of husbandry the success of which would periodically mulct 

 him of a large proportion of his earnings was to place a pre- 

 mium on bad management, and represented a policy only a 

 degree less disastrous to landlord than tenant. 



Another form of lease was for tliree lives, the tenant paying 

 a small annual acknowledgment, performing sundry boon 

 services, and paying the fines levied on each successive death. 

 If he wanted to put in one or two extra lives he had to raise 

 capital for the additional fines. If the lord allowed the lives 

 to run out, which he seldom did, he got his land and buildings 

 returned on his hands in a ruined condition. 



In Devonshire, where there were mostly miniature farms 

 consisting of a few tiny enclosures, the general method was 

 for landed proprietors to lease out the tenements of their 

 manors for ninety-nine years determinable on three lives, 

 taking fines for such leases and reserving no more than about 

 a shilling in the pound of the yearly value. Men of small for- 

 tune seized this opportunity " to purchase " what they called 

 " an estate," which also served as a handy investment for the 

 money which their wives brought them as dowries. It was 

 said to be the principal cause of the poverty palpable in this 

 district, as it caused a difficulty in getting good tenants at 

 rack rents for all holdings exceeding a yearly value of £100, 

 and also proved a bad security for the farmer's capital.^ Such 

 leases were also prevalent on the church lands in Durham and 

 Hampshire, as well as on the properties of laymen in Lanca- 

 shire. In the last-mentioned county especially, they seem to 



^ Dissertation on the Chief Obstacles to the Improvement of Land, etc. 

 Aberdeen, 1760. 



2 Tour Through Britain, vol. i. p. 361. Ed. 7. Defoe, 1769. 



